First Meetings
by Somariel
Summary: Lantis' first meeting with the Magic Knights and with Hikaru alone. Set in the manga universe.


A/N: Many thanks to Antoinette Veronica for beta'ing this for me.

All recognizable dialogue and thoughts are taken from Tokyopop's 10th anniversary translation of Magic Knight Rayearth.

* * *

Given that my daily ride to search for the Road to the Pillar had ended with me interrupting a fight between Eagle and the Magic Knight of Fire, I was desperately in need of some time alone to put my thoughts in order. I hadn't even known that the Magic Knights had returned. Therefore, I was less than pleased to hear Primera calling for me only a few minutes after I had sent her away.

Still, she wouldn't be calling me if _she_ didn't think it was important, so I headed in the direction of her voice. I soon found her hovering near the door to one of the castle's common areas, beside a girl holding Mokona.

The girl looked about twelve or thirteen years old, although here in Cephiro, that wasn't necessarily an indication of her actual age, and was short enough that her eyes were at about the same level as the top of my belt. She had long light red hair pulled into a braid and red eyes. She was wearing a black skirt and a red shirt with a white collar and bow at the neck.

Over the shirt was some simple armor with red jewels—a chestpiece with a guard on her left shoulder, a bracer on her right arm, and a gauntlet on her left hand. On her feet were knee-length boots that matched the armor.

While the girl and I had been staring at each other, two more had come over to the door. They both looked about fifteen years old and were also wearing the same simple armor. One was in green, with short blond hair and ankle-length boots. The other one was in blue, with long light blue hair and thigh-length boots.

"Thank you for saving us," the first girl said.

_These_ were the Magic Knights? Since they weren't from Cephiro, they probably were only as old as they looked, although the first one might be fifteen as well and just look a bit younger. I had expected the Magic Knights would be older. I was, however, amused by the fact that their elemental color themes were reflected in their hair, eyes, and what was presumably their clothing from their own world.

"So you're the Legendary Magic Knights, eh?" I said. All three of the girls started when I spoke. Unsurprising, given how much Zagato and I had sounded like each other.

"_Lantis!_ What are _you_ doing here?"

And that was Lafarga. He was standing in the doorway behind the Wind Knight and the Water Knight, glaring at me, Ascot and Caldina behind him. He and I hadn't had a single non-antagonistic exchange since we met, but his tone was even sharper than usual this time. Did he think I was going to harm the Magic Knights?

"I see I'm not welcome here," I said, narrowing my eyes in annoyance. "_At all._" Some of my annoyance crept into my voice with those last two words. With that, I turned and stalked off in the direction I had come from.

:-:-:-:-:

Night found me sitting on the rim of the fountain in one of the castle's gardens, pondering the problem posed by the Magic Knights' return. Guru Clef had told me that they had appeared without warning no more than ten minutes before I encountered them outside the castle. He was just as puzzled as I was by their return, but was grimly determined to find whoever had summoned them.

A slight scuffing sound to my left caught my attention and I looked up to see the Fire Knight—Clef had said her name was Hikaru—nervously standing a few feet away.

"So…" she said hesitantly, her clasped hands trembling, "they told me…you're Sol Zagato's younger brother…?" Her last word trailed off into a question.

What was she trying to get at? Seeing that my silence was increasing her trembling, I said "That's right."

"I…" she started. "Your brother… I was the one who-" She broke the sentence off abruptly and swallowed hard. "You can hit me if you want!" she cried.

_Where did that come from?_ I thought. _She can't possibly think I blame her for that, can she?_

"I mean, I know a slap in the face can't compare, or be enough… Just…please don't hurt Umi-chan and Fuu-chan!" The last sentence came out of her in a rapid burst of words.

_Please,_ I thought, _let Lafarga be nowhere within hearing range of here. He'd completely misinterpret this._

"I know it's selfish of me," she said. "I know. Umi-chan and Fuu-chan weren't themselves when we got back to Tokyo. I was feeling depressed and they tried to cheer me up, but…I know they cried when they were alone. So…if you have to beat someone up, just hit me!"

She looked ready to cry when she finished. Apparently, she really did think I blamed them for Zagato's death. I will admit that I had been wrestling with that issue before I met them, but seeing how young they were had pretty much killed whatever blame I had placed on them. Seeing how guilty she felt now was just the death blow for those feelings.

"I don't want to hit you," I said, closing my eyes in final acceptance of that.

"Huh?"

I opened my eyes to see that she was looking at me in utter confusion. "You were a Magic Knight," I said, "brought here from another world. I can't blame you for what was forced on you."

"But…I…" she stammered.

"I imagine you also cried when you were alone, didn't you?" I said.

She looked even more ready to cry now than she had before. She had clearly not been expecting me to forgive her so easily, much less sympathize with her.

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself," I said, closing my eyes again. "If anything is to blame here, it's Cephiro." After all, it was Cephiro that couldn't exist without the sacrifice of the Pillar, that _required_ the absolute devotion of a single person, when people weren't made to be alone.


End file.
